Out of My League
by darthsydious
Summary: Yes she's all that I see and she's all that I need and she's out of my league once again. T to be safe.


The first thing he noticed about her was how _green _she was. It was such a stupid thing to notice, of course she was green. She was Orion after all. Still, it was such a vibrant colour. He'd never seen such a particular shade, nor so much of it. He'd been on Delta Vega for six months; the only colours he saw for that time were white and grey. Even on the _Enterprise_, the halls were immaculately white, the black non-slip floors shined to a mirror hue. So when the Orion was stationed aboard the _Enterprise_, he was somewhat taken aback when she reported for duty. She had to repeat herself, asking him to sign her PADD to confirm her rank and station.

"Aye," he mumbled, taking it from her. He felt stupid then too, for staring. The poor lass was probably so sick of idiots staring at her because she was Orion. Instead of being insulted, she smiled kindly when he handed the PADD back to her and went to her station. He knew as soon as she walked away he didn't have a chance in hell with her.

One day, she was at work in a Jefferies tube, loose wires everywhere, grease up her elbows, when a sharp burst of sparks showered out of the tube, she gave a shriek and slid out, falling into him. They crashed to the floor, her on top of him. She scrambled up,

"Gorramn-it!" she huffed, rolled up her sleeves and climbed back in, swearing all the way. Scotty felt his heart leap, hearing her baby the _Enterprise_ as she began soldering naked wires. The panel on the wall outside the Jefferies tube came to life, AUTOSTART flashing on the screen. She slid out again, pumped her fist victoriously in the air and punched in a code. Opening her communicator, she turned a dial. "Riley, try it now."

"Got it, thanks Gaila." She closed the comm, as she turned Scotty quickly moved to a panel down the way, trying to look busy. A moment later, he realized she still hadn't covered the Jefferies tube yet; the lid was heavier than she'd anticipated. She was bent over, her knees knocking as she tried to lift it by herself.

"Let me." He said, nearly dropping the PADD. He took an end, the hinges of the lid squeaked as he pushed it into place, sliding the bar into the lock.

"Thank you sir." She said, beaming, grease streaked her face, arms and fingers.

"Better get cleaned up." He said, ducking his head. All he wanted was to fold into himself until she was out of sight.

It was then that he realized he loved her.

At lunch, he watched her sitting with Lieutenant Uhura, Commander Spock and Doctor McCoy. The captain joined them a moment later, turning a chair backwards; he'd sat right next to Gaila, throwing an arm over her shoulders. Scotty did his best to look at his technical journals, shoveling as much of the Monte Cristo sandwich into his mouth as he could. All he wanted was to get back to work. He had no right, hoping for someone as pretty as her. She probably wouldn't even look at him. Orions preferred handsome men didn't they? They didn't settle down did they? He finished his lunch, grabbing his stack of PADDs, leaving the lunchroom in such a hurry he nearly knocked over Nurse Chapel and her tray full of Vulcan delicacies. Poor lass. She didn't know Mr. Spock was attached to Lieutenant Uhura, last he heard the two of them had bonded in a Vulcan ceremony, involving a mind-meld…or something. He didn't know, he just knew Uhura looked fatter than usual. Word was she was pregnant, already.

Weeks went by without change. Gaila would report to work, he'd automatically become a mutton-head until she was out of sight and then he'd throw himself into his work until he realized it was well past meal-time. After shift, he'd go home and work on his technical manuals. Sometimes he'd have a drink with Doctor McCoy, he always had a stash of whisky or scotch somewhere.

"You know what I think?" it was one such night, and both of them had more than a "medicinal amount".

"Whassat?"

"I think you love her." Scotty looked up, alarmed.

"Who?"

"You know who." Scotty didn't know what to say. How did he know? How _could_ he know? He'd almost always managed to avoid contact with Gaila, so that no one, especially her, would know how he felt. "I've seen the way you look at her sometimes, in mess, or on card nights, which aren't that fun now that you stopped coming. Jim's winnin' every hand, and it ain't fun." Leonard reached for the bottle; Scotty shoved his empty glass over, wanting a refill.

"You think anyone else knows?" he asked dejectedly.

"Naw…maybe Ny, but she wouldn't say to anyone but Spock."

"How's Ny doin'?"

"Purty good, she's in her sixth trimester, think its twins. Or Vulcan babies are just dang fat." Scotty frowned,

"Does Chapel know what's going on between Nyota and Spock?"

"Yeah, finally." McCoy just grinned. "Not very astute is she? Dumb as rocks sometimes. You know she joined Starfleet just to find her fiancé? Worst excuse I ever heard, and even mine was pretty bad." Scotty didn't say anything. He was thinking of Gaila again, how red her hair was. Leonard somehow knew that look and patted his arm. "You should talk to her. Maybe take her to lunch. Or something. You're just gonna kill yourself over it, and if I can't save you, Jim's gonna kill me for offing the Chief Engineer." Scotty smiled a little. He emptied his glass, sighing heavily.

"Thanks Doc, I…I think I'd better be goin'…s'late, an I've got ta git some shut-eye, got tha night shift." They stood up; McCoy patted his shoulder as they headed for the door.

"Get some sleep Scotty, and think about what I said, just because you think you're not good enough don't mean it's true." Scotty looked at him, somewhat taken aback. The Doctor just smiled reassuringly and hit the door lock, it slid open and Scott stepped through.

"G'night then." He said and started down the hall. He must've been really smashed, because the next thing he knew, his was lying on his back in the hall, staring up at the very person he'd been trying so hard to avoid for the past month and a half.

"Oh Mr. Scott, thank goodness you're awake!" she gasped,

"Huh?" was all he could say.

"We ran into each other, I guess you hit your head. Do you want me to get Doctor McCoy? He's just down the hall." Her hand was on his cheek, traveling to his neck and she was so near him he could smell her perfume- it was all too much for his inebriated state. He _had_ to get out of there before he did something _really_ stupid.

"NO!" he said quickly, trying to push his way up past her. "No, no I'm fine, thankee lass, I-I'm fine, just a wee bit too much to drink. Thank you." He tried to take a step but he ended up walking into the closed turbolift doors. He groaned, the doors slid open and he fell inside, praying that the floor would just swallow him up. Instead, Gaila was kneeling beside him, her hands gently lifting him up.

"Let me help you." She said softly. She looked so pretty, her red curls tied back like that- he tried to push her hands away, in doing so, he noticed two of her fingers on her right hand were gone. She saw him looking and quickly tucked his arm around her shoulders so he couldn't see it. She punched in his deck with her foot and the turbolift hummed to life. Being that close to her, and too drunk to really control himself, he stared at her, he could see scars on her cheek, mostly hidden by her curly hair, he could see more on her legs and arms. She smelled like engine grease and perfume, and whatever she'd eaten for dinner. She'd never looked more beautiful to him.

They arrived at his quarters, he managed to slur the pass code to her and she hit it, half-dragging him inside.

"Sorry." He mumbled "Sorry. What a mess…" he groaned, trying to steady himself.  
>"For what?" she asked,<p>

"For being so drunk, not your place to hafta drag me all the way home- poor lass- me ruinin yer nice evening."

"My evenings aren't half as exciting as you think they are." She said and helped him with his boots.

"Yer bein so nice." He hiccupped. "I'm sorry!"

"Stop." She said, pushing his hands aside and tugging off his left boot. "Lie down now, and I'll tuck you in."

"Don't hafta," he started, but she gave him a look that made him crawl over to his pillow and lie down. "Betcha tha Captain never gives ye this much trouble." He slurred. She shrugged, tugging the blankets up over him; her warm hands were smoothing his hair.

"I wouldn't know. I only dated him for a little while at the Academy." Now Scotty was quiet. He'd always assumed she and Jim had been together since they graduated. She petted his head a moment, smoothing his hair and he sighed, closing his eyes. If he was going to have only a few intimate memories of Gaila, this would be the one he cherished most. "Now, go to sleep." She said and left his room. He heard the doors close and the computer automatically locked the doors. He rubbed his head, wanting to roll over and die.

**Next Evening**

He punched in for duty, relieving Ensign Riley. He took the chair, facing the panels and put up his feet. Every once a month, he had to take a nightshift, and it was the most monotonous shift of them all. Twelve hours of absolutely nothing but staring at panels. Nothing ever happened down here, ever. On these shifts he'd bring along a few things to work on. This time was no different. He was putting together a hyperspanner that was refusing to repair communication systems. All it did was fizzle and smoke. It was this type of job that took a few hours, maybe he'd play some online barokie after or-

The doors hissed open, and to his shock, Gaila stepped in, bearing two trays. All he could do was stare at her, the headset beeping at him, pointing out that it couldn't scan organic matter, namely Gaila.

"What're you doin down here?" he asked, he said, the clear eyepiece started beeping again, the hypospanner in his hand gave a sudden shock. He gave a sharp cry before he tore the headset off, his face red. She tried to hide a smile as she set the trays down, carefully moving aside the pieces of the hyperspanner.

"Well, I figured you were hungry," she said, and took the chair opposite him. "And I thought maybe you wouldn't mind some company." He looked embarrassed and shy as she pulled the lids off the trays. The steam from the food curled under his nose and his stomach growled noisily.

"Ah…a little." He mumbled, reaching for a fork. "Thankee lass." They ate in silence for a while,

"How is everything down here?"

"Oh…same." He said, glancing around.

"Quiet?"

"Yeah."

"No one comes in here, huh?" he stared at his plate, offering her only one swift glance.

"No."

"Good." She reached across the table, grabbing him by the shirt, hauled him half-way over the table and kissed him. She set him back down and started eating again, beaming. He stared at her, his lips numb.

"Uh…why'd ye- what're you-"

"I thought you wanted to." She said,

"What? Yes I- NO! Ach!" he put his head in his hands. "I- you can't just go about kissing me. I'm not your type- you should be- I dunno with someone- not like me, someone like-"

"Jim Kirk?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What? I don't know…" he shrugged, "Bloody idiot." He shoveled food into his mouth, really wishing he could just shut up.

"Why would I be with him?" he looked up, swallowing the several bites of food in one gulp.

"I don't know…I thought that he was more your style…" she shrugged.

"He's alright I suppose. I like you better though." He nearly choked on his water.

"Me?"

"Sure. Why not? You think just because I'm Orion I can't have my pick?"

"No! No that's not what I meant I mean- god I'm doing it again!" he groaned and pushed the tray away.

"You think I'd never pick someone like you?" she asked.

"I-I don't know, I guess..."

"Why?" such a simple question, and he still felt the words getting caught in his throat. His face turning redder by the minute.

"I don't know, you're just…look at you!" he said, thrusting his hands out at her, her lips twitched, she was probably mad at him now, but he couldn't stop talking. "You're beautiful, and I'm- I dunno, mum always called me funny lookin', I'm just an engineer, and all I do is read bloody technical manuals and fix things and I cannae for the life of me stop thinking about how green you are!"

"Green?"

"It's such a bonnie colour." He offered meekly "And all I can think about every time I see you is how red your hair is, or how long your legs are-" she wasn't bothering to hide her smile now "Or how nice you smell or how smart you are." He paused for breath "I can't stop thinking how you're ashamed of your scars now," her hand went automatically the largest of the four she bore now, the one on her thigh that was nearly a foot long. "Even though I think they don't matter a wit, and I think if you covered them up I wouldn't have as much to admire." He sighed heavily; he realized he'd managed to move half-way across the room during his "speech". Gaila was staring at him, her eyes wide. His heart sank. He'd insulted her. "I-I think you'd better go, before I say anything else." He said quietly. He bowed his head. She got to her feet, moving purposefully towards the door. He turned away, not wanting to see her leave. Instead, he heard a familiar beeping, it sounded like the door locks had been set in place. Before he could turn around to wonder, there was a hand on his shoulder. The other went to his chest,

"You like my scars." She said softly.

"Aye." He mumbled, staring at the floor.

"Monty," he glanced at her, "hey." Finally he looked up. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

"Oh…it's nothin' lass, I'm sure plenty of people have-"

"Told me that over the years they'll fade, or that I can cover them up." She smiled, "No one's ever told me to show them off."

"Well…I only meant-" and before he could stop her, she'd put his hand on the scar on her lower thigh. "Oh." She was kissing him again, and he was rather shocked to find he was kissing her back. His fingers found their way to her red curls, her arms wound around his neck. When they finally pulled apart, his eyes were gleaming, his cheeks red. "I- Gaila, I have to tell you I-I've always-" she put a hand over his mouth.

"You don't have to say it," she said softly, her own cheeks, to his surprise, were tainted pink. He had no idea Orions blushed. "I already know."  
>"For how long?" he asked<p>

"For a while now." She said, her nose crinkled against his as she smiled, "No one's ever loved _me_ before. Not in the way you do." His hands rested on her waist,

"I _do_ love you." He said,  
>"I know."<p> 


End file.
